Rayon shipping carton



Jan. 7, 1958 J. E. TALBOT RAYON SHIPPING CARTON Filed Jan. 20, 1954 United States Patent RAYON SHlPPIN G CARTON James E. Talbot, Wynnewood, Pa., assignor to American Viscose Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application January 20, 1954, Serial No. 405,157 7 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) This invention relates to containers and, more particularly, to corrugated cardboard shipping cases used to transport wound spools or packages of yarn, thread and the like.

While the present invention is directed primarily to a shipping container for packages of yarn Wound on conical mandrels, usually referred 0t as cardboard cones, it will be understood that the invention may be applied equally to other types of mandrels or articles to be shipped. It has been found that all known prior shipping cartons have one or more serious disadvantages when used to ship packages of yarn. For this purpose it is important that the yarn packages be individually supported in the container in such a way that they cannot possibly come in contact with each other or with the sides of the container. In prior practice, it has frequently been felt necessary to wrap the individual packages in wax paper to prevent injury during shipment. Furthermore, even though prior containers may have been reasonably satisfactory from the standpoint of preventing damage or injury to the yarn packages, the cost has been very high or even prohibitive. A factor which makes the cost of such containers more critical is that the containers must be expendable because the mere increase in cost of returning empty containers to the manufacturer, inspecting such returned containers, making allowances for damage in shipment and all the other bookkeeping work that would be thereby entailed absolutely requires that a suitable container be provided which can be economically used only once. It has therefore not been easy to provide a container meeting all the mechanical requirements plus the requirement that its cost to the yarn manufacturer be sufliciently small to justify expendability without adding materially to the price of the yarn.

The present invention provides a container construction which meets all of the above requirements. In the first place, its strength and ability to retain the yarn packages in an undamaged condition under severe abuse during shipment is remarkable. In the second place, the cost of manufacture and packing the container is no more, and in some cases less, than previously designed devices. The cones on which the yarn is wound act as structural elements in supporting the container itself and in such a way that the cost of the container is not increased.

A primary object of the present invention therefore is to provide a shipping container for yarn packages and the like which is relative y inexpensive to manufacture, assemble and pack.

. A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved shipping container in which the yarn packages are interlockingly stacked to provide rigid support and positioning for the packages.

, A further object of the invention is to provide a shipping container for yarn packages and the like having double thickness trays with punched-out tabs for engag ing the outside and simultaneously the inside of a yarn CODE.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a tray for yarn package shipping containers having a plurality of aligned interlocking tabs punched through the layers of the trays.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and drawings in which:

Figure l is a longitudinal section of a packed shipping container constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional detail as seen at 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an exploded sectional perspective showing details of the construction of Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective of a portion of one of my improved trays; and

Figure 5 shows the structure of Figure 4 in condition to be installed in the container.

A preferred embodiment of the invention comprises essentially the provision of a shipping container having a plurality of tiers of yarn packages separated by specially designed partitions or trays. These trays are fabricated of double layers of corrugated cardboard, each layer having two tabs which are punched out in such a way that when opened the tabs in the lower layer extend upwardly through apertures in the upper layer. The tabs in the upper layer are located at right angles to the tabs in the lower layer, and when likewise punched upwardly, serve to interlock with the lower tabs to form a substantially truncated quadrilateral, the corners of which lie on a circle of approximately the same diameter as the inside diameter of the large end of the yarn cone. The distance between the inner faces of opposite tabs when punched out or folded to the operative position is approximately equal to the outside diameter of the small end of the yarn cone. Thus, the upper ends of a layer of cones all extend through the upper tray layers and into the base of the superimposed yarn cone. This construction provides an exceedingly rigid interlock between the cones since no lateral movement is possible due to the telescopic relationship which is, nevertheless, reinforced and insulated by the tabs. If desired, a flat sheet of wax paper may be inserted at the top and bottom of each yarn package, but no further protection for the sides of the package is necessary. The bottom tier of packages is retained in the container by pads of double thickness corrugated paper having holes punched therein substantially equal to the outside diameter of the large end of the cone. Similarly, the tops of the topmost tier of yarn packages are retained in the container by upper pads having aligned holes punched therein substantially equal to the diameter of the upper or small end of the yarn cones.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a shipping container constructed in accordance with the present invention is provided with conventional sides 10, two of which are shown in Figure 1. The four bottom flaps 11, 11 are folded in place as are the four upper flaps 12, 12. A container of this sort may have, if desired, removable or telescopic side walls to provide easy access for packing in accordance with well-known practice.

My improved shipping container comprises a plurality of tiers of yarn packages P, usually twelve packages to the tier. The ordinary yarn package of the type referred to herein comprises a slightly tapered cake of yarn approximately 6 inches high, 5 /2 inches in diameter at the upper end and 6% inches in diameter at the lower end. This yarn cake or package is wound on a cone or mandrel, usually of cardboard, about 6% inches long and having an inside diameter at its base of 1 inches and an outside diameter at its top of 1 inches. It will be understood that the cardboard cone protrudes above the top of the yarn approximately 1 /8 inches and extends below the bottom of the yarn approximately of an inch. In practice both ends of the cake may be slightly dished so that the bottom of the cone actually extends approximately /8 of an inch beyond the plane of the bottomv of the cake, but this is of no consequence in connection with the present invention because the cone will always be atleast even with the lowermost part of the yarn.

The bottom pads 13, 13 (Figure 3) are sheets of heavy corrugated cardboard paper having twelve registered holes 14, 14 punched in each sheet of approximately 2% inches diameter to receive thebottoms of the cones which are roughly 2 inches in outside diameter. A sheet of wax paper 15 is next inserted over the pads 13, and the wax paper has twelve slitted stars 16 cut to register with the holes 14 in the bottom pads. When thusassembled, the packer inserts the twelve bottom packages with the cones thereof protruding through the star-shaped slits 16, 16 and into the holes 14, 14. Another sheet of wax paper is then pressed down over the tops of the cones for each yarn package, as shown in Figure 3, ,to protect the yarn. The trays which separate the various tiers of packages, one of which is next placed over the bottom tier, are best illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, and the improved construction thereof forms a very important feature of the present invention.

I fabricate the trays or partitions of two flat sheet of heavy corrugated cardboard having the corrugations running at right angles to each other in each tray. The bottom sheet or layer B of the tray (Figure 4) has twelve slits or H -shaped slit groups punched therein in registry with the twelve cones in each layer. Each of these. slits in the bottom layer B comprises a center slit 17 and oppositely directed slits 18 and 19 which are of substantially equal length and radiate from opposite ends of slits 17. An acute angle is formed between each of the slits 18, 19 and slit 17. This angle, however, is on the order of 78 but may be more or less depending upon the size and shape of the article to be packaged. The upper tray layer U has two plane-convex slots or apertures 20, 20, the curvature of the outer arcuate edges of the slots being approximately 1 inches in diameter or the same as the inside diameter of the large end of the cones C. The upper tabs or tongues 21, 21 are thus formed by a slit 22 at right angles to the sides of slots 20, 20 and passing through the center of the bridging portion of cardboard. The tray layers U and B are secured to each other by stapling, stitching or gluing so that the centers of slits 17 and 22 are in substantial registry with the cardboard segments removed from apertures 20, 20. The tabs may be bent upwardly either before or after the trays are actually installed in position over the cone ends. If this operation is performed before the trays are installed, the trays will appear as shown in Figure in which the tabs or tongues 25, 25 from the bottom layer B extend upwardly through the arcuate sides of apertures 20, 20. The tabs 21, 21 are also bent upwardly and retain tabs 25, 25 open as shown in Figure 5 or, conversely, tabs 25 or either of them space and retain open the tabs 21.

. With the trays in this condition, one of them is placed in position over the twelve yarn packages in the bottom layer as shown in Figures l-3. When so installed, the top of each cone C in the bottom layer extends upwardly and holds open by actual contact all four tabs 21, 21 and 25, 25. Another sheet 15 of wax paper is then placed over the four-sided figure formed by the upraised tabs 21 and 25, whereupon the second layer of yarn packages is placed in position by telescoping the four tabs in the tray inside the large end of the cones C. This. forms an extremely rigid and secure inter-locking yet non-binding telescopic construction for the yarn packages. The same procedure is repeated for all twelve of the yarn packages in the second tier and so forth for each succeeding upper tier until the packages in the topmost tier have been in-' stalled. The top pads 26, 26, having twelve cut holes ap proximately 1% inches in diameter, are then placed on top of the uppermost sheet of wax paper to retain the upper tier of packages securely in the container. With the top flaps 12 folded and secured in place, the abovedescribed construction provides an extremely rugged and satisfactory construction for the shipping container. The lateral rigidity of the trays and pads is ample to prevent lateral shifting of the cones or bending, and the verticai support actually provides twelve upright columns in the container which are capable of functioning as stressreceiving members without damaging the yarn in any way.

having continuous unbroken edges, a plurality of interlocking sockets for yarn package mandrels in the, layers, said sockets formed by two tongues in the lower layer extending through a registering aperture in the upper layer and interlocked with two tongues integrally and bendably formed with the upper layer at right angles to the protruding tongues on the bottom layer.

2. A tray' in accordance with claim 1 in which the tongues in the bottom layer are bendably and integrally formed therewith and having tapering sides.

33. A tray in accordance with claim 2 in which the tongues in the bottom layer are formed by a central slit in spaced relation to the bend lines between the tongues and thelayer, and the tongues in the upper layer are formed by a central slit in spaced relation to the bend lines between the last-named tongues and the upper layer, said slits being at right angles to each other.

4. A tray in accordance with claim 3 in which the upper layer is apertured'on each side of the tongues to provide clearance whereby the tongues when bent along their respective bend lines interlock'to provide an unobstructed aperture in the tray.

5. A shipping container for yarn packages and the like I comprisingan outer case having four walls, a plurality of horizontal trays in the case closely fitting said walls and forming separations for a plurality of tiers of yarn packages, each of said trays comprising two layers of corrugated cardboard, a plurality of apertures in the up per layer of each tray in vertical alignment from tray to tray, a plurality ofp airs of separate tabs on the bottomv layer of each tray with each pair of tabs in line with and bent upwardly through one of said apertures, a plurality of pairs of tabs on the upper layer with each pair of tabs forming extensions of one of said apertures and which interlock with the tabs of the bottom layer at right angles thereto, a conical hollow mandrel for each of said yarn packages extending at both ends beyond each yarn pack age, the smaller end of the mandrel extending into an aperture of the tray and contacting the inner faces of the tabs in the tray, and the bore of a superimposed mandrel telescoped around the tabs and securely held thereby.

6. A container constructed in accordance with claim 5 in which the tabs in each tray layer are formed by five slits in the general shape of an H, the crossing slits of the H in superimposed tray layers being at right angles to each other.

7. A tray for shipping containers for yarn packages comprising two layers of corrugated cardboard, a plurality of apertures in the upper layer of each tray, a plurality of pairs of separate tabs on the bottom layer of each tray with each pair bent upwardly through one of said apertures, and a plurality of pairs of tabs on the upper layer with each pair of tabs forming extensions of one bottom layer at right angles thereto, each pair of said tabs Referenctes (fit ed in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Kondolf Aug. 20, 1935 Lee Dec. 8, 1936 Kondolf Apr. 13, 1937 Knorpp May 16, 1939 Courson Aug. 17, 1943 Post Oct. 28, 1952 Wright Mar. 17, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland Apr. 2, 1951 

